Agrizzi says he is in ‘perfect health’ and believes ‘God has my back’
Bosasa's former COO has also given his view on why Gavin Watson has not yet been arrested.
Angelo Agrizzi, the former operations head of the security firm once known as Bosasa, has given damning testimony about the bribes the company paid to South African ministers, elected officials and high-ranking officials of the ruling ANC party. AFP/File/WIKUS DE WET
Former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi has said he is in “perfect health” following his recent marathon testimony before the commission of inquiry into state capture and subsequent arrest.
The whistleblower was speaking in an interview on Chai FM on Monday in which he said testifying at the commission had led to him sleeping better than in the past. Previously, his involvement in alleged corruption at Bosasa had apparently caused him sleepless nights.
Agrizzi encouraged other whistleblowers to come forward and expose corruption.
Asked why he had taken such a long time before spilling the beans on Bosasa, Agrizzi said he had been hoping the situation would get better after 19 years at the company’s employ in a cult-like environment.
He said he was not afraid for his life because he believed that God had his back, and so he was not worried at all.
The daily prayer meetings held at Bosasa in the mornings had been a cover-up, he alleged, and the company’s charitable donations were similarly problematic, Agrizzi said.
“That’s the way you would negate corruption. That’s the way Gavin Watson would negate corruption out there by actually going out there and saying: ‘Well, we are doing all this good, and that is from the money we’ve made from the business,’” he said.
Agrizzi was recently arrested by the Hawks in connection to alleged corruption at the controversial company and its tender with the department of correctional services (DCS). He and his co-accused were granted R20,000 bail.
Asked why he thought the company’s CEO, Gavin Watson, was not arrested, Agrizzi said Watson was an intelligent man who had ensured he could not be easily implicated, and so had sent others to commit the company’s allegedly corrupt acts.
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